


Twenty-One

by thomasjeffersonsmacaroni



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Era, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 08:44:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11399106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thomasjeffersonsmacaroni/pseuds/thomasjeffersonsmacaroni
Summary: That one soulmate AU where when you're twenty-one, you inhabit your soulmate's body.





	Twenty-One

**Author's Note:**

> I have made it my personal goal to incorporate "sugarnugget" into as many of my Stormpilot fics as possible  
> Also happy America day I wanted to make this more patriotic but I forgot I was going to post it on the 4th lmao

**Part 1: 12 and 21**

“FN division, report to the main quad immediately.”

FN-2187 got out of bed and began fastening his uniform, just like any other day. His roommates stood turned away from him and did the same.

It was just a normal day. Then why did he feel so different, like something exciting was looming over him?

FN-2199, or Nines, would say that it was just his “childish youthfulness” shining through. At fifteen, he was three years Eight-Seven’s senior and therefore had worldly wisdom that the younger Stormtrooper couldn’t even begin to imagine.

But this was different. Eight-Seven felt something strange deep inside of him, something that he couldn’t describe in the few words they had been taught in lessons. It was as if he wasn’t alone in his own body and there was someone else fighting for dominance.

That realization scared Eight-Seven. He tried his hardest to stamp whatever it was down, instead drowning himself in the act of racing to the main quad, helmet on haphazardly. He would have to fix it when he arrived.

“FN-2187, straighten your helmet. We’ll be doing marching exercises.” Captain Phasma’s voice was as stern as ever.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Go stand in your place. Have you forgotten where that is?”

 _No, ma’am,_ Eight-Seven wanted to say. But instead, what came out, in a voice that was barely his own, was: “I can’t believe he’s a Stormtrooper!”

“You can’t believe _who_ is a Stormtrooper?” Captain Phasma asked, voice unflinching under her helmet. “We’re all Stormtroopers here, FN-2187. Have you not noticed?”

“Sorry, ma’am, I didn’t-”

“My soulmate is a fucking _Stormtrooper!”_

“Calm yourself down and watch your language, FN-2187.”

“Shit, sorry. Did I get you in trouble, FN-whatever?”

“Yes,” Eight-Seven hissed, voice on the verge of breaking. “Yes, you did.”

“FN-2187, come to the front of the room and apologize to your division mates, or else you’ll be doing extra reps. You’ve already earned isolation at lunchtime.”

“Stay quiet, soulmate,” Eight-Seven said under his breath. “Let _me_ do the talking.”

“Sorry, buddy. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I’ll shut up now. Tap your wrist when I can talk again.”

“All good.”

Eight-Seven’s heart raced. He was realizing in a sudden burst that his soulmate – his _soulmate_ – was here with him, whoever they were.

“I apologize for my sudden fit of misbehavior,” Eight-Seven mumbled at the front of the room.

“Speak up, please.”

“I APOLOGIZE FOR MY SUDDEN FIT OF MISBEHAVIOR!”

“Calmer.”

“I apologize for my sudden fit of misbehavior. It will never happen again. I will never be a disgrace to the good First Order.”

His hand clenched by his side, tears choking his throat so much that he found it hard to speak, but whether it was by his will or by his soulmate’s he wasn’t sure.

“Good. Now go back to your spot, and we will begin.”

Eight-Seven nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

 

He didn’t tap his wrist until lunchtime, when he pulled out a notebook and placed it in front of him.

 _My code is FN-2187,_ he wrote. _I’m twelve years old. Who are you?_

Eight-Seven waited. Then, his pen picked up and began writing.

_Well, I’m not calling you FN-whatever. I’m calling you Finn. Is that okay?_

_Finn._ Eight-Seven smiled as he looked at the name, written down in a handwriting that wasn’t his own. He would have a name just for him, like General Hux or Kylo Ren, only it would have to be secret.

But that was okay. That was okay. Because his name set him apart from the other Stormtroopers. It made him human.

_Yes, of course. Do you have a name?_

_I’m Poe Dameron. With the_

Finn’s head jerked back to verify that no one was there. Then, Poe finished what he had been writing.

_Resistance. I’m a pilot._

_That’s cool. I wish I were a pilot. But I’m just a lousy Stormtrooper._

_You’re not lousy._

_I am. I’m not as good as the rest of them. Captain Phasma’s gonna make me work in sanitation. She told me._

_Hey, I’m not a Stormtrooper, and I’m not lousy. There’s a future outside of the First Order. I hope you find it._

Finn placed a hand to his head. Poe’s writing was scaring him. There was _no_ future outside of the FO. No one escaped being a Stormtrooper unless they died.

 _No,_ he wrote. _I’ll always be a Stormtrooper. Stop tempting me to do bad things._

_Not necessarily._

The pen traced a black line in the notebook. Finn tore the pages out, eyes blurring with fresh tears, and threw them in the trash can. It was time to go back soon, anyway.

On the way back, Finn ran into Nines, who tapped him on the shoulder and moved to his side.

“When you turn twenty-one,” he explained, “you take over your soulmate’s body for a day. That’s why so many people miss training on their birthday. They pretend to be sick, but everyone knows what’s _really_ happening. They’re _love_ sick.”

He laughed at his own joke, but Finn stayed silent.

“Listen,” said Nines. “I suggest you forget about your soulmate. You won’t see them again. It doesn’t matter. Leave it alone.”

“I will,” Finn whispered. The tears that had been pooling up began to flow freely.

But Nines did nothing to comfort him. After all, they were only friends out of convenience.

 

**Part 2: 21 and 29**

On what was apparently his twenty-first birthday, Finn awoke in a body that was definitely not his own. For one, the barracks were different, and the other people were strangely unrecognizable.

Finn was in Poe Dameron’s body, no matter how much he didn’t want to be. He crept back down to let Poe take the lead, planning to take a break and ignore everything. Maybe the Resistance pilot wouldn’t even notice him at all.

“Finn, I know you’re in there.”

_Crap._

“I realize that I made you feel like I was bragging, and I’m sorry. I just want you to know that there _is_ hope outside of the First Order. Let me show you.”

On the way to what seemed to be the breakfast room, Poe passed a mirror, and Finn realized that the man was quite handsome. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at the face, which seemed to be sculpted from marble by some kind of supreme being, and without willing it, one hand reached up and ran through that beautiful hair.

Poe grinned. “Thanks. Your birthday present is joining the Fan Club. We have quite an expansive reach.”

In the breakfast room, there were several people already eating, all of whom Finn obviously didn’t recognize. Poe singled out a woman with short red hair and dark brown lipstick.

“This is my friend Alex,” he explained.

“Um, who are you introducing me to?”

“My soulmate. He’s in my body right now.”

Alex’s eyes lit up. “Oh, hello! Happy birthday!”

“He’s not talking to me, though. I think he’s mad at me.”

“Oh, well, that’s a shame.”

Poe nodded. “Anyway, Finn, Alex used to be a Stormtrooper. But when we were both…what was it? Seventeen?”

Alex nodded. “I remember it like it was yesterday.”

“Yeah. Her body was inhabited by her soulmate, a Resistance pilot named Lea. They talked, and Alex realized how screwed up the First Order was. So she collected information and sent it over, and the First Order wasn’t brought down, but it was weakened significantly. You may have heard about it. Alex stayed on until she was twenty-one to send on even more information, then escaped. Just like that. You can escape too, Finn. Even if you don’t think you can.”

Finn couldn’t help but let out a gasp. “But…but it’s too late for me to help you. I don’t have any important information. I’m sorry, Poe. And Alex.”

“Oh, he’s talking to you!” Alex smiled.

“You sure are. But Finn, that wasn’t my point. You don’t need to be a spy to have worth. My point was that you _can_ escape from the First Order. There _is_ a future past being a Stormtrooper. And you can discover it.”

Finn bit his lip – or, technically, Poe’s lip. His heart raced frantically, pawing for a way out of his chest, realizing things he had never realized before.

“I’m sorry for treating you badly, Poe,” Finn murmured. “You didn’t deserve it. Is there still a chance for us to get to know each other?”

“Of course there is, Finn. Of course there is. And there always will be. Let me introduce you to all of my friends. That’s Alex, as you know, that over there is Jess Pava…”

 

The whole day was spent walking around base, and when Finn whispered that he was getting tired, Poe led him back to his room, where they wrote things about themselves in a notebook. When it was night-time, and therefore time for their bodies to part, the last thing that Finn saw was Poe’s scribbled sentence.

_I hope we see each other again, sugarnugget._

 

**Part 3: 23 and 32**

FN-2187 – no, he was Finn now, he had to be Finn – raced through the floors. He had to find that prisoner, the one who was supposedly a pilot. He had to escape.

Poe, _his_ Poe, was right. He had to be free.

What if his Poe was the mysterious prisoner? They were both pilots, after all. It was unlikely, but it was possible.

It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. Whoever the prisoner was, they would both be free.

Finn couldn’t kill. He couldn’t kill.

He found the prisoner in his holding cell, bleeding and in pain.

But alive. Alive, beautiful, and unmistakably his Poe.

“Captain Phasma wishes to see the prisoner,” he said, voice echoing through the room. “Are you done with him, Master Ren?”

“I am. Take him.”

Poe stood up woozily and walked over to Finn, who picked him up in a bridal carry and began moving him over. Once they were out of earshot of anyone, Finn leaned over to him and whispered.

“For the record, Captain Phasma doesn’t actually want to see you. I’m going to rescue you, ‘sugarnugget.’”

Poe sat up and grinned. “I knew you would come for me, Finn. I knew it from the moment I was captured.”

Finn took off his helmet and threw it on the ground, shattering its glass into tiny little pieces. Then, still walking to the place where the ships were held, he placed a kiss onto Poe’s forehead, lips staying there for as long as he could manage.

“We’ll start a new life together. Just as you said.”

“Yeah. Just as I said.”

Finn’s soul soared even farther than him and them.


End file.
